MrWolf

Amen to that.

I was looking at the second batch, third one down in the pile, the plates are rusty and have slotted guides for the axle, I probably should have mentioned that! The black painted ones beneath those look like K's white metal items?

Looking at the pictures taken underneath the coaches I saw a pair of the bogies fitted with a steel fold up inside frame and cosmetic sides. I have a couple of those which came in a box of bits a friend gave me. Any idea what make they are?

That actually wasn't too painful a job, once all the bars are trimmed I can fit the etched hinges (which means filing off the cast ones) and give the gates a coat of primer, as I'm expecting to do a little filling. Just in case, I have fitted all the dog bars on the backscene side of the gates.

Seconded and I do like the Standard 2-6-0 as well as the outside frame 4-4-0. Like CK says, very appropriate to a Mid Wales setting.

It would have been quite rude not to. I wouldn't want anyone feeling left out...😀

This really is the fun part.... As per the instructions I have cut grooves halfway into the gate to sink in the dog bars. The next step is apparently to solder them in. So I used gel superglue instead, I think solder would be asking for trouble. One down, one to go. The pedestrian gates should be interesting to do!

That sounds like a cr@p job to me and I've had a few.

Stole it from here, the layout being fenced may well look familiar: https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/techniques/how-to-make-a-fence-for-a-model-railway/

Apparently 4lb fishing line is a good substitute.

Thanks, for some reason the tag where I pinched it from said Blue Anchor. It's a long time since I was at Didcot, I really ought to remedy that.

That's looking really good now, I do like the way the track sweeps round, it's very convincing. I got a headache before ballasting the points on Aston, just in case. Miss R was dead keen to do the rest of the track, but I think that the novelty has worn off now.

Definitely the start of a railway in the landscape, looking forward to seeing the project develop. So it's not just me? That's really good to know, especially when those voices start.... 🤪 Anyone else hear a large number of approaching aircraft? 🤔

I spend half my modelling time repainting splodged edges, I wouldn't worry about it.

In my experience, to the point where you can't actually do your job on occasion. For instance: "We've been ordered to measure up for a safety railing" Response: "You can't go up there, as there's no safety railing." The old one had been deemed as potentially unsafe, so had been removed entirely. About a month and £5000 worth of scaffolding later, it was safe to go up and measure up for a new safety rail.

I've seen plenty of foot crossings that don't have check rails, particularly in steam era photographs. Modern foot crossings seem to have them and particularly those on high speed lines. I'd applied the logic that foot traffic would not be sufficient to dislodge the board infill, but road traffic, particularly in the days of iron tyred carts and traction engines definitely could.

Thanks to a generous gift from the LMS up at Derwent Spa, we now have finescale track on the layout, albeit in the shape of signposts, fenceposts and the check rails for the level crossing. Although I have allowed sufficient clearance for the remaining hideous bacon slicer wheels in the tolerance, bits of code 100 rail fouled the chairs and simply wouldn't fit. The decking is made from two layers of coffee stirrers, slit lengthwise to scale width. I've probably said it before, coffee stirrers are incredibly useful, but need trimming to scale timber sizes otherwise their origin is wildly obvious. Testing has been carried out using a coach still fitted with the wheels of doom.

In which case he has a distinct advantage. 🙂

That's a good bit of information, clearly Kernow Knows Things. I'd been hunting for pictures that showed the pedestrian gates and of those, the two that were labelled Berwig (actually designated as a halt and appearing in volume one of Great Western Railway halts by Kevin Robertson, a book well worth obtaining, as is volume two.) and Brimscombe happened to show what I needed. Other pictures gleaned from the net seem to resolve the relationship of posts, gates and locking mechanism on crossings with gates similar to those in the MSE kit. A lot of pedestrian gates are angled to the road gates which is useful for the space I have. The two above are from Blue Anchor, below is Littleton & Badsey.

Nice job, but it's now put in a reminder for my to do list. I've painted the front of my boards (150mm deep) matt black, because it's easy to keep patching in as I have made alterations (or a mess!) but it will receive a paler colour towards the finish that blends in with the room better so that it doesn't look so cramped.

I believe that the picture was taken 1908 if that helps?

Berwig, with cut down road and pedestrian gates. The lamp by the gates does appear to have a red front glass, Brimscombe, a much narrower road with a two bay gate.

It's the B4368, a minor road but the main access down the valley to Clun and beyond. I remember once going across the Notts / Lincs area and there was one that still had manual gates that were normally closed to the road.

I thought as much, as I had supposed earlier, the cattle bars only seem to be used on ungated crossings. Yes, definitely manned, though the keepers often seemed to be women. Im assuming that the gates were opened and closed manually prior to 1901 when the GWR took over from the Clun Valley Railway and rebuilt the line according to my fictional history. (Though as has been covered earlier, there were plans drawn up for a line similar to the Bishops Castle Railway.) That is something that I would like to do, there's gates in the kit but there is no instruction as to the installation on the hinge post side of the crossing gates. The supplied gates are also quite large and I was thinking something with vertical palings like the ordinary footpath crossings, but with remote locking of course.

That's why I never drink alone!